Life

Coeur d'Alene Athlete Takes on Cancer

It wasn't easy for Idaho's Tom de Tar to find the time to train. Here's the reason he kept at it.

by Jessica Elliott

For Idaho’s Tom deTar, racing for a cause provided the motivation needed to train, despite a jam-packed schedule. An ENT surgeon and father of nine children, aged 13 to 28, deTar’s biggest challenge was simply working a training regimen into his agenda while still making it home in time for dinner.

"My family is super supportive," says the upcoming IRONMAN Coeur d’Alene competitor, who will be raising money there through the IRONMAN Foundation. He adds that several of his six daughters are on swim teams, and he'd often join them at the pool for crack-of-dawn morning laps.

As a surgeon, though, on-call weeks were especially challenging for de Tar. He would often have to run on just a few hours of sleep, and there were days he would bike in circles around the hospital trying to squeeze miles in before work interrupted. "Once I was hoping for a six-hour ride and I got called into the hospital midway through," he says. "I took care of the patient, then got back on the bike and kept circling." He says that training and parenting often left him tired: "I had to go to bed earlier just to keep my energy up—that was the hard part. Teenagers like to stay up late talking, but I had to tell them, ‘all right. I need to go to sleep.'"

But de Tar had a reason to keep training, even through the most exhausting days: his ultimate goal of raising money for the Anna Schindler Foundation. de Tar and his wife Cynthia met Polly and Joe Schindler when they moved to their Idaho hometown 17 years ago. Their children attended school together and the couples became fast friends. In 2010, the Schindlers’ daughter Anna was diagnosed with liver cancer. She fought bravely before her passing in 2011. She was just 7 years old.

After Anna’s death, the Schindlers established a foundation in her name to support Inland Northwest families with children battling cancer and deTar wanted to help. Triathlon seemed like a natural fit. The deTars had volunteered at IRONMAN Coeur d’Alene for the past 10 years and their oldest daughter, Beth, did the race in 2011. deTar had dabbled in triathlons since 2010, when he completed his first sprint. Taking the jump up to IRONMAN and raising funds through IRONMAN Coeur d’Alene made sense to him. This year’s race also lands on the anniversary of Anna’s death, serving as a poignant reminder of what he hopes to accomplish.

At first deTar wasn’t sure he would be able to achieve his initial goal of $5,000, but his family and friends came through. "Children fighting cancer pulls on the heartstrings, and people know that all of the money is going to right back to the families," he says. He ended up increasing his goal amount to $10,000, then $15,000, then to $20,000. He has now raised $20,710.

"It’s not easy for me to ask others for money, but I realized that this is for these children and their families," he says. "So I started asking everyone. As I sent out messages, the response was amazing. Probably one in three would give, and they were just so generous."

While raising funds, deTar has heard numerous stories from the Schindlers about the families benefitting from their foundation. These stories motivated him even more. The organization had recently covered two children’s funeral expenses and also assisted a family who was en route to an Oregon hospital to have their daughter’s leg amputated when their car broke down. The foundation came to the rescue with a rental car.

deTar will be remembering those families' struggles as he tackles each demanding mile this weekend. "All of these families are low-income families, and not only are they dealing with the stress from cancer and treatment, but also finances, like just getting gas," de Tar explains. "It was amazing to hear that story. It made me bolder."

As he approaches the finish line this weekend, de Tar knows the emotions will run high. "My wife says I’m getting more emotional as I get older and I think that’s true," he says. He adds that he's looking forward to the possibility of some of the kids making it to the race if they are feeling up to it.

And then there will be his personal journey: deTar plans to recall throughout the race how hard he worked to get to that moment. He'll remember the grueling hours and extra workouts he had to squeeze into his schedule while also being there for his loved ones—the same dedication that will drive him to complete his very first IRONMAN race.